The Colorado General Assembly’s First Regular Session convened on January 8, 2025, and adjourned on May 7, 2025, with over 650 bills introduced. The 2025 General Assembly considered a number of environmental and energy-focused legislation, some of which Governor Polis signed into law and some of which were either vetoed or failed to advance. A number of bills passed both houses and await signature or veto. Below is a summary of notable legislation.
Bills Signed Into Law
- HB25-1040 – Adding Nuclear Energy as a Clean Energy Source. This legislation, sponsored by Reps. Alex Valdez (D) and Ty Winter (R) and Sens. Dylan Roberts (D) and Larry Liston (R), amends the statutory definition of clean energy to include nuclear energy under state law, making it eligible for clean energy project financing and allowing qualifying utilities to use it to meet the state’s 2050 clean energy target. Governor Polis signed the bill into law on March 31, 2025.
- HB25-1077 – Backflow Prevention Devices Requirements. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Tisha Mauro (D) and Rick Taggart (R) and Sens. Nick Hinrichsen (D), removes licensure requirements for individuals who inspect, test or repair backflow devices. Under current law, individuals who install, remove, inspect, test or repair backflow protection devices are subject to licensure requirements for plumbers. The legislation exempts individuals engaged in the business of inspecting, testing, or repairing backflow prevention devices from licensure requirements but retains the licensure requirements for individuals engaged in the installation or removal of the devices. The purpose of the legislation is to provide more flexibility for qualified professionals while maintaining standards for public water system protection and is a response to confusion and compliance issues under the prior version of the law. Governor Polis signed the bill into law on March 28, 2025.
Enrolled Bills
- HB25-1165 – Geologic Storage Enterprise and Geothermal Resources. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Amy Paschal (D) and Matt Soper (R) and Sens. Cleave Simpson (R) and Cathy Kipp (D), creates the geologic storage stewardship enterprise in the Department of Natural Resources to manage geologic storage of carbon dioxide in the state, including plugging, abandoning and reclaiming geologic storage facilities. The stewardship will collect fees from operators of geologic storage facilities in the state and require them to pay annual stewardship fees for each ton of carbon dioxide they inject into geologic storage in the state. The bill also identifies how long-term stewardship of geologic storage locations will be managed. Finally, the bill updates laws concerning underground geothermal resources, including by exempting certain geothermal operations from needing a well permit from the state engineer and clarifying that the authority to regulate shallow geothermal operations is shared by the state engineer and the state board of examiners. The bill was enrolled on April 11, 2025.
- HB25-1269 – Building Decarbonization Measures. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Jenny Willford (D) and Alex Valdez (D) and Sens. Matt Ball (D) and Cathy Kipp (D), updates energy performance standards for certain buildings, including a requirement to meet 2040 performance standards and revising civil penalties for violations. The bill also creates a decarbonization enterprise to provide financial assistance, technical assistance, and other programmatic assistance to covered building owners to effectively and efficiently implement building decarbonization measures, including energy efficiency measures, electrification measures, energy upgrades, and participation in utility on-bill repayment programs. The enterprise is authorized to impose and collect from covered building owners an annual building decarbonization fee to cover the enterprise’s costs in providing the financial, technical, and programmatic assistance. The bill was enrolled on May 7, 2025.
- SB25-054 – Mining Reclamation and Interstate Compact. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Cleave Simpson (R) and Jeff Bridges (D) and Reps. Matthew Martinez (D) and Karen McCormick (D), amends the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act and the Colorado Land Reclamation Act for the Extraction of Construction Materials to contemplate the expedited issuance of reclamation-only permits on less than 5 acres and updates restrictions and requirements concerning financial assurance for mine reclamation projects.
- SB25-182 – Embodied Carbon Reduction. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Matt Ball (D) and Cleave Simpson (R) and Reps. Kyle Brown (D) and Ron Weinberg (R), add embodied carbon improvements to the list of new energy improvements that are eligible for property-assessed clean energy financing provided by the Colorado new energy improvement district. An embodied carbon improvement is one or more installations or modifications to real property using eligible materials that result in the reduction of the installation’s or modification’s embodied emissions. The bill also modifies the industrial clean energy tax credit so that embodied carbon investments are greenhouse gas emissions reduction improvements. An embodied carbon investment is one that results in a 15% or greater reduction in cradle-to-gate embodied emissions of eligible materials when compared to the eligible materials’ cradle-to-gate baseline. The bill was sent to the Governor for signature.
- SB25-305 – Water Quality Permitting Efficiency. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Jeff Bridges (D) and Reps. Shannon Bird (D) and Rick Taggart (R), aims to improve the efficiency of Colorado’s water quality permitting process by requiring CDPHE to streamline permit reviews, address backlogs, and provide greater transparency to permittees. It mandates rulemaking deadlines for timeframes on permit actions, allows for third-party technical assistance when applications are delayed, and ensures financial considerations for local governments when imposing new water treatment requirements. The bill also reallocates and appropriates millions in state funds to support these initiatives and adjusts related budget items accordingly.
Bills That Failed
- HB25-1099 – Water Quality Data Standards. The bill, introduced by Reps. Tisha Mauro (D) and Rick Taggart (R) and Sen. Nick Hinrichsen (D), would have required the Water Quality Control Commission to issue, on or before January 1, 2027, written guidance specific to the development of total maximum daily loads (“TMDLs”) (i.e., the daily maximum amount of a pollutant from all sources that is allowed to enter state water so that an applicable water quality standard is met). The bill also would have required the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to determine, on or after January 1, 2028, a TMDL for state waters using credible data. The bill did not make it out of the House Committee on Energy and Environment. The bill was enrolled by the House on April 11, 2025.
- HB25-1119 – Require Disclosure of Climate Emission. The bill, introduced by Rep. Manny Rutinel (D), would have required entities doing business in Colorado that have a total revenue exceeding $1 billion in the preceding calendar year to disclose information concerning greenhouse gas emissions. The bill did not make it out of the Committee on Energy and Environment.
- HB25-1241 – Public Accessibility of Emissions Records. The bill, introduced by Reps. Bob Marshall (D) and Lorena Garcia (D) and Sens. Lisa Cutter (D) and Cathy Kipp (D), would have required stationary sources to maintain and make publicly available records that help the public determine whether the owner or operator is in compliance with air quality standards.
- SB25-117 – Reduce Transportation Costs Imposed by Government. The bill, introduced by Sen. Scott Bright (R), would have repealed certain transportation-related fees, including road use fees, fees on short-term vehicle rentals, passenger per-ride fees on car shares, and the waste tire enterprise fee on purchase of new motor vehicle and trailer tires.
- SB25-137 – Greenhouse Gas Credits for Water Quality Projects. The bill, introduced by Sen. Cleave Simpson (R), concerned eligibility for the greenhouse gas credit trading program for water quality green infrastructure projects that create greenhouse gas credits. The bill did not make it out of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Energy.